Mastaba

an ancient Egyptian tomb made of mud brick,

rectangular in plan withsloping sides and a fl
at roof.
The afterlife was a main focus of Egyptian civilization and ruled every aspect of the society.[citation
needed]
This is reflected in their architecture and most prominently by the enormous amounts of time,
money, and manpower involved in the building of their tombs.[3]Ancient Egyptians believed the soul
could live only if the body was preserved from corruption and depredation as well as fed.[4]
Starting from the Predynastic era and into the later dynasties, the ancient Egyptians
developed increasingly complex and effective methods for preserving and protecting the
bodies of the dead. The Ancient Egyptians initially began by burying their dead in pit graves
dug out from the sand. The body of the deceased was buried inside the pit on a mat, usually
along with some items believed to help them in the afterlife. The first tomb structure that the
Egyptians built was the mastaba. Mastabas provided better protection from scavenging
animals and grave robbers. However, the human remains were not in contact with the dry
desert sand, so natural mummification could not take place. Use of the more secure
mastabas required Ancient Egyptians to devise a system of artificial mummification.[5] Until at
least the Old Period or First Intermediate Period, only high officials and royalty would be
buried in these mastabas.[6]
The word 'mastaba' comes from the Arabic word for a bench of mud,[7] and when seen from a
distance a mastaba does resemble a bench. Historians speculate that the Egyptians may have
borrowed architectural ideas from Mesopotamia since at the time they were both building similar
structures.[8]
The above-ground structure of a mastaba is rectangular in shape with inward-sloping sides and a flat
roof. The exterior building materials were initially bricks made of sun dried mud, which was readily
available from the Nile River. Even after more durable materials like stone came into use, all but the
most important monumental structures were built from the easily available mud bricks.[9] Mastabas
were often about four times as long as they were wide, and many rose to at least 30 feet in height.
The mastaba was built with a north-south orientation, which the Ancient Egyptians believed was
essential for access to the afterlife. This above-ground structure had space for a small offering
chapel equipped with a false door. Priests and family members brought food and other offerings for
the soul, or ba, of the deceased because Egyptians believed that the soul had to be maintained in
order to continue to exist in the afterlife.
Inside the mastaba, a deep chamber was dug into the ground and lined with stone and bricks. The
burial chambers were cut deep, until they passed the bedrock, and were lined with wood.[10] A
second hidden chamber called a "serdab" (), from the Persian word for "cellar",[11] was used to
store anything that may have been considered essential for the comfort of the deceased in the
afterlife, such as beer, cereal, grain, clothes, and precious items.[12] The mastaba housed a statue of
the deceased that was hidden within the masonry for its protection. High up the walls of the serdab
were small openings that would allow the ba to leave and return to the body (represented by the
statue); Ancient Egyptians believed the ba had to return to its body or it would die. These openings
"were not meant for viewing the statue but rather for allowing the fragrance of burning incense, and
possibly the spells spoken in rituals, to reach the statue".[13]